Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother accused of strangling her three young children to death in 2023, is set to stand trial this week. Jury selection for the murder trial began Monday in Plymouth County Superior Court. Clancy has pleaded not guilty to charges in connection with the deaths of her three children — Cora, five, Dawson, three, and eight-month-old Callan — in January 2023.
Clancy jumped out a window after the incident and was paralyzed in the fall. She is currently being held at a state hospital while awaiting trial and now uses a wheelchair. While Clancy has not denied killing the children, the trial is expected to determine whether she was legally responsible for her actions. Clancy claims she developed postpartum psychosis after the birth of her youngest child. This rare diagnosis can cause women to develop delusions and hallucinations and is considered a psychiatric emergency.
The Defense Strategy
Both Clancy’s lawyer and her husband, Patrick Clancy, support her claim that she was not responsible for her actions and plan to raise an insanity defense. Defense attorney Kevin Reddington has described the case as an extreme tragedy. Prosecutors, however, contend that Clancy planned and carried out the killings with a clear state of mind.
On Jan. 23, 2023, Clancy allegedly asked her husband to leave the home to pick up takeout and medication. While he was gone, she is accused of taking her three children to the basement and using exercise bands to strangle them. Investigators noted that she had researched the duration of the trip to ensure she would have enough time alone with the children.
Medical Negligence Allegations
Reddington has indicated that he plans to argue that Clancy should not be held criminally responsible due to the extreme mental health distress she was experiencing at the time. Earlier this year, both Lindsay and Patrick Clancy filed separate lawsuits against her medical providers, alleging they failed to properly diagnose, treat, and monitor her severe postpartum psychiatric condition.
Patrick claimed that his wife was prescribed at least nine medications in the months leading up to the incident, with eight of them prescribed over a three-week period. In her own lawsuit, Clancy stated that she was depressed, had trouble sleeping, and heard voices urging her to harm her children and herself. The trial is expected to last six to eight weeks and could involve more than 200 potential witnesses.